Love Actually and periods
by QueenOfSlexieness
Summary: Sofia is not feeling well and it's messing with Mark's head. Thankfully Lexie is there to help sort out the new part of Sofia's young life. [One-shot]


**You know that feeling of getting an idea and you just _have_ to get it down on paper? That's what happened to me at 1.30 in the morning.  
** **This is just a short one-shot of something I came up with after reading a Mark/Sofia one-shot. I hope you like it. Leave a review and let me know what you think :)  
** **And also, how cute is protective Mark? 3**

* * *

Sofia had been extremely grumpy the last couple of days.

Lexie claimed that it was because she was getting older and hormonal, something that happened to all girls who were reaching their teenage years. But Mark refused to accept the fact that his little girl was growing up. In his eyes, Sofia Sloan Torres would be 5 years old until she were placed in an old peoples home.

The little family was having a cozy Friday night at the Sloan residence. And because Mark really loved to spoil his favorite girls, he bought pizza, a bottle of wine (for him and Lexie) and a whole lot of candy and snacks for them all to share.

It had been a while since they were together like this, so Mark demanded a cell phone free evening. No social contact with the outside world. Tonight was all about them. Sofia and Lexie both laughed at his demand, but he couldn't care less. When Mark Sloan meant business, it was business.

Deciding on a movie was a project in itself. The nights it was just him and Lexie, they could discuss the choices like adults and then mutually agree on a movie. But with Sofia, Lexie turned on some sort of female game that basically was based on turning all of his suggestions down. The girls teamed up on him like the orcs in Lord of the rings.

So after a heated discussion that in reality wasn't that heated, all Mark's suggestions for a movie were turned down, and the girls won with the choice of _Love Actually_. Mark muttered something about it not even being christmas time, but it was like he was invisible.

Usually during movie nights, they would all be snuggling up in the big couch, with Mark in the middle, and his girls snuggled up against him on each side. He would always be their human pillow, their human blanket, and not to mention; their human table and glass holder.

But this time, Sofia chose to sit in the armchair next to the couch. She was snuggled up in her own blanket and occasionally reached for some potato chips and a sip of her soda. Mark found the behavior a bit odd, but decided not to question her about it.

Half way through the movie, Mark noticed that Sofia moved a little uncomfortably in her seat and she made a face of discomfort. He also noticed that she hadn't eaten as much snacks and candy as she normally would. Maybe she was coming down with something. The thought horrified him, even if it was just a simple could with a fever.

A few minutes later, Sofia looked uncomfortable again, but this time she got up from her seat. And without a word, she walked out of the living room and headed up the stairs. Most probably to her bedroom. Mark looked after her for a long time and couldn't decide on wether to follow her, or let her be.

"Mark," Lexie said and placed her hand on his knee, effectively getting his attention. "Don't overthink everything. She's fine. And if she weren't, she would tell us."

"You sure?" Mark asked, already going through in his head what might be wrong. "Did she look okay to you?" he asked softly.

"Just leave her alone," Lexie said and smiled softly at him, trying her best to ease his worries.

Mark sighed and nodded. Lexie had always had some sort of sixth sense for these things. And she was a woman herself, so who knew better? But he secretly decided to have a serious talk with Sofia before she went to sleep. If something _was_ wrong, he wanted to know.

"Isn't Colin Firth really good looking?" Lexie asked teasingly, knowing that would make Mark leave the Sofia train of thoughts for a moment. "I mean, with the British accent and all."

"Sure," Mark said in a monotone voice. Two could play that game. "Almost as good looking as Keira Knightley," he said and jokingly squeezed Lexie's arm. "I mean, with the British accent and all." The classic Mark Sloan-smirk was placed on his face as his wife glared at him.

Lexie comfortably leaned in closer to Mark and sighed in pleasure. The movie really sucked, according to Mark. But if it would make his girls happy, he would suffer through it a million times.

Speaking of his girls, where was Sofia?

"She's been up there for a while now," Mark said in a tensed tone of voice.

"Did you ever consider that she might take a while because she has some _business_ to do?" Lexie asked.

"Well, maybe, but… I don't know, she hasn't been acting like herself lately and I just have a feeling." Mark was really uncomfortable in this situation.

"Okay, fine," Lexie said and sat up in the couch, pulling away from her husband. "Get up there and check on her. But don't come back feeling sorry for yourself when she yells at you for interrupting her in the bathroom."

"Fine," Mark said and sighed before pulling off the blanket off his legs and getting up from the couch. "Don't bother to pause the movie," he added with a smirk before he headed towards the stairs.

With heavy steps and an overthinking mind, Mark made his way up the stairs of his house and followed the rug to Sofia's room. The only thing Sofia had begged for when he first told her about buying a house, was her own room. And the fact that the room had an adjoining bathroom didn't make things worse. Lexie had said something about it being beneficial for the girl once she got older, but Mark hadn't really caught up on what she meant.

Mark came to a stop by the closed door. Normally, Sofia would only close her door completely when she was going to sleep or when she had homework and didn't want to be disturbed. But she never went to sleep without saying goodnight, and he doubted that she had some homework to do on a Friday night. Something about this didn't feel right.

Swallowing hard, Mark took a breath before he gently knocked on the door. "Sofia?" he asked softly. He waited for a few seconds without an answer before he knocked again. "Sofia? Everything okay?" When he still didn't get a verbal response, he decided to break her privacy and walk in anyway.

He shot a quick glance around the small room only to find it empty. "Sofia?" he asked again as his eyes focused on the closed bathroom door where he could spot the light shimmering under it. Maybe Lexie had been right, maybe she was just doing her business.

But Mark, being the slightly over-protective father he really was, couldn't help but make 100% sure she was alright before leaving.

Slowly approaching the closed bathroom door, he noticed it was unlocked. With a soft sigh, he gently knocked on the wooden door, hoping he wouldn't disturb her too much. "Sofia? Sweetie, is everything okay?"

" _Don't come in,_ " Sofia's voice sounded from inside, a slight tone of horror in her voice.

"I- I wont," Mark said and couldn't help but worry even more. "But are you alright? Are you hurt?"

" _I'm fine!_ " the young girl said in a raised voice. " _Can you just get Lexie, please?_ " she asked in a lighter tone.

Mark was a bit taken aback, both by the tone of his daughter's voice, and because she was asking for her stepmom. What could be so horrible that she didn't want his help? After a slight shake of his head, he nodded even though she couldn't see it. "Yeah, of course. I'll get her for you," he said and slowly turned away from the door and left his daughter's room.

His steps down the stairs were a lot quicker than they had been going up. His thoughts were racing and he was eager to get Sofia the help she needed as soon as possible.

It didn't take him long to get back to the living room where his wife was mentally involved in the storylines of that crappy love-christmas chick flick. She looked up from the TV when she noticed him in the doorway.

"Is she okay?" Lexie asked softly and smiled a little.

"I'm not sure," Mark replied and took a breath before running a hand through his hair. "She only wants you."

Lexie's eyebrows rose. "Me? What's wrong?"

"I don't know. But can you just go check on her, please?" Mark was getting anxious. He didn't like the tone on his daughter's voice. And whatever Lexie could do to help, she needed to do it _now_.

"Alright," Lexie said calmly and removed the blanket from her legs before getting up and quickly passing Mark in the doorway. She was reaching the stairs when she felt his presence close behind her, and she came to a stop before turning around to face him.

"Maybe you should wait downstairs. I'll come talk to you when I know what she wants," she told him calmly and smiled at him.

"Okay," he replied and nodded before taking a step back.

Lexie didn't waste another moment before turning again and quickly walked up the stairs. In mere moments, she was outside her stepdaughter's room. She gently knocked before just walking in. After scanning the room, she noticed the closed bathroom door and quickly walked over.

"Sofia?" she called softly and gently knocked on the bathroom door. "Your dad said you wanted to see me. Is everything alright?"

" _Can you come in?_ " Sofia's soft voice sounded from inside the closed door.

Lexie was a bit taken aback. The girl was 12, Lexie figured she'd want some privacy whilst being in the bathroom. But if Sofia asked, she wouldn't deny it. "Sure," she replied softly before opening the door and taking a step inside.

On the toilet, Sofia was sitting with her pants down, and a look of horror on her face. "Hey," she said and tried to smile.

"Hey," Lexie replied in a calm tone and mirrored the young girl's smile. "You okay?"

The smile on Sofia's face was quickly replaced with a look of sadness and tears filled her eyes. "I… I don't know."

"You don't know?" Lexie asked in a motherly tone and crouched down in front of her stepdaughter. "What is it? What's happened?"

"I'm…" Sofia took a breath and wiped her cheeks before trying again. "I'm bleeding," she whispered. "Like, _down there_."

Lexie had to shove the laughter down her throat. This wasn't the time to mock the girl and her father for being worried about puberty. Instead, she offered her a warm smile. "Oh, sweetie. That's not a bad thing," she said assuringly and placed her hand on Sofia's knee.

"It's not?" Sofia asked, unsure of herself. Bleeding was never good. And she figured bleeding _down there_ would be even worse.

"No, it's not," Lexie assured. "You just got your period."

A look of realization dawned on Sofia's face. Her mommies and the school nurse had mentioned something about 'the period'. She now started to remember things she had been told about it. She just hadn't expected it to happen so fast.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of. It just means you're becoming a woman," Lexie said assuringly and smiled at the young girl that looked so much like her father. She wiped away a tear from Sofia's cheek and then stood up. "Hang on, I'll get you some pads and a clean pair of panties," she said and turned to the door.

"Can you-" Sofia interrupted and waited for Lexie's attention before she continued. "Can you… tell Dad?" She wasn't completely sure how she would explain this to her father, and Lexie always handled him so well.

Lexie just smiled at the mini-Callie and nodded. "Sure, I'll tell him. And I'll be right back," she said and left the room.

In this moment, she was thankful that her and Mark's bedroom were just the other side of the hallway. It was quick and easy to get anything she needed from her own bedroom, and give it to Sofia.

She soon reached her own bathroom and quickly checked the drawers for her own menstrual products. Thankfully, she had some basic pads among all the tampons, figuring that tampons wasn't the best choice for Sofia at the moment. She grabbed an recently opened box and quickly left the room.

When she got back to the hallway, Mark was hovering outside Sofia's room.

"Didn't I tell you to wait downstairs?" Lexie asked with a small laugh as she approached him.

"Turns out I'm a bad listener," Mark muttered and turned to look at his wife. And the products in her hands made his eyes grow wide. "What's going on?"

Lexie couldn't help but laugh at the over-protective way Mark mustered so well. "Your daughter is growing up," she said and walked closer to him, proudly showing the box of pads in her hands. "She just got her period, is all."

"Her period?" Mark asked in a hushed tone. "She's _twelve_."

Lexie sighed and touched his shoulder. "I know. It may be a bit early, but it's not unusual. I was 13."

Mark ran a hand over his face and leaned back against the wall. He would just have to accept that his daughter was growing up faster than he wanted. Like Lexie said, she was becoming a woman.

Lexie ran her hand up and down his arm for a moment. "I'm just gonna get her these. So wipe that look off your face and show some support when she comes back. There's no reason to make a big deal out of this. Every girl gets their period."

"I know, I know," Mark said and nodded before pulling himself together and straightening himself.

"Good," Lexie said and smiled at him before she went back to Sofia in the bathroom.

They both took their time in there and Lexie carefully instructed Sofia on how to use the pads and a quick explanation on how long the period will go on, how often and so on.

A few minutes later, the door to Sofia's room opened and Lexie let the young girl out first and closely followed her. Outside, Mark was waiting for the girls with a warm smile on his face. "Everything okay?"

Sofia mirrored her father's smile and nodded. "Yeah. Everything's fine," she said and glanced up to Lexie before walking over to her father. Without a word, she wrapped her arms around his stomach and hugged him tightly. Lexie had informed her that she had told Mark and that he promised not to make a big deal out of this. Everything about this was completely normal.

"Good," Mark said and hugged his daughter back just as tightly as she was. He met his wife's eyes and smiled warmly at her, mouthing a _thank you_ before looking back at his daughter. "What do you say we finish that love movie?" Mark asked, causing the girl to pull back and smile at him.

"I'd like that," Sofia said and nodded, feeling much better and eager to get back to the movie and her snacks. This time snuggled up on the couch with her father.

"But I think we're gonna have to rewind about 20 minutes," Lexie said and smiled mockingly at Mark who glared back at her with a death stare. "Because you missed all the good parts."

"Oh, yeah," Sofia said and quickly headed for the stairs. "Come on!" she called while running down.

Lexie was laughing loudly as she walked towards the stairs with Mark. Just because it was wrong to mock Sofia about her period, it wasn't illegal to make fun of Mark for it. "Now you're gonna have two grumpy, hormonal women in the household," she said and linked arms with him.

Mark groaned in joking annoyance and sighed. "Remind me to stock up with candy and ice cream."

"I will," Lexie agreed and kissed him on the cheek.

When they returned to the living room, Sofia was propped up on the couch with a blanket and the bowl of potato chips. She smiled at her father and step mother and patted the space beside her. "Sit down, I just rewinded to the wedding scene," Sofia said eagerly and smiled.

"Lucky for you both that I love you," Mark whispered to Lexie as they both obeyed to Sofia's wish and sat down on the couch with her.

And soon enough, Mark was on his spot on the couch, wrapped up in a blanket and his favorite girls by his sides. Being used as a human pillow, human blanket, and occasionally; a human table and glass holder.

Just like it was supposed to be.


End file.
